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I personally believe it's better to have as your base picking system.... alternate picking. There are many reasons. And after you have a base system for picking, just like fingerings.... you can still use other systems and approaches anytime you want or feel etc...
If you play all the time.... anything will work. When you don't play six or seven hours a day 7 days a week.... it's better to have a system that repeats with the least amount of possibilities or choices....
Picking creates a natural articulation pattern, again a base articulation pattern to start with.... Alternating naturally works with rhythmic subdivisions etc... You can still articulate anyway you choose.... but you need a base system to work from...
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12-20-2018 09:42 AM
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We get hung up on alternate picking, downstroke picking, economy picking, Benson picking, gypsy picking, rest stroke picking, picking from the elbow, picking from the wrist, scalpel picking, hybrid picking, classical picking, flamenco picking, fingerpicking, thumb picking, etc., etc., etc. Each of those comes with a host of rules and regulations. Good grief!
Picking should be whatever feels natural and easy to you. When first taking up the instrument, some attention and care is needed to establish good habits. Then the left hand tells the right hand which string(s) to pick and the right hand tells the left hand about time.
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I switched to Alternate from Economy about 4 or 5 years ago. It was a good change and my teacher at the time suggested it. I'm glad I did it. It did help my time.
Now, just recently, I've been spending about 5 minutes a day Economy picking. I can still do it but my brain definitely trips up a bit depending on tempo and the sequence of up/down strokes involved. My thinking is that when I am REALLY in the zone, I just want my body to subconsciously do whatever is best in the moment, and so I think maintaining some Economy chops alongside my main Alternate approach just makes sense.
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Alternate picking has always been my base, but I think it's important to study and practice all styles of picking and ultimately let it be instinctive when you play. Unless your a specialist(Martino's alt picking, Holdsworth, Gambale) There's something to gain from all those styles, Alt picking, Legato, Sweep/directional, economy, down picking. But for me like someone mentioned above alt picking has to be the base.
Last edited by DS71; 12-21-2018 at 12:46 PM.
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Dunno, I’m agnostic on the matter. 12 months ago I would have given you a very specific answer.
I think it’s best to learn lots of different styles and go with what feels natural.
I think my technique is a real fusion of approaches depending on what I’m trying to do.
The best way to play in time is downstrokes only. The most practical solution most people find for moderate tempos is rhythmic alternate picking so downstrokes on the beat. The most practical solution to fast is legato and or economy picking.
The most practical solution to playing loud and fast is gypsy picking.
Fair?
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Fair, I suppose. I'm not sure I know enough to say for certain, one way or another. I mostly, but not exclusively, alternate pick. I had to do some investigation to find that out. I've never consciously tried to do any particular style, as far as I can remember. I just pick however I do it at the time. Maybe that's a flaw, and maybe it holds me back, but it's too late to change now. I have no real opinion about anyone else's picking technique.
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yeah its funny. A couple days ago. I felt my time struggling and i thought i threw all my different techniques like Sweep/Economy, Gypsy etc. away and only alternate picking like in my beginnings.
Now after a few days of only playing alternate picking i discovered, that it doesn't sound right to me. I miss the smoothness and sometimes i also loose the time, because some Lines are impossible to play with only alternate Picking.
Yeah sure alternate picking helped me for really nailing fast lines - but i sound like a metal shredder :-D .
I think i had a little deep and wasn't satisfied with my playing and time. Today i was really satisfied with my sound, time and playing. :-/
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Well if you can play what you want to play, why worry? There's a lot more important things to work on...
Originally Posted by sgosnell
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Pure alt picking .. Originally Posted by ginod
I'll stick my neck out and say I don't think it's that common among bop/straightahead style players .... Mike Stern I think of as being quite boppy a lot of the time, Martino of course, Hank Garland... Not THAT many... Much more common in country...
Alt picking in combination with judicious and idiomatic legato and sweeps where required ... much much more common.
Reason is 1) it's super hard 2) PHRASING - alt picking gives very regular accentuation. If you are a ninja you might be really good at accenting, but this is not a knack I perceive that much. A lot of accentuation actually comes from left hand choices... Fingerings, slurs and so on....
Economy is an infamously sloppy way to pick timing wise. You have to be a bit of a grandmaster to do it in the pocket.
So a mixed approach.... a good idea.
GJ and Benson picking as I have mentioned before have some irregular accentuation 'baked in', so if you make good LH choices, the thing will swing out of the box as long as you fight the natural tendency of some moves to rush. I don't feel that with other picking styles.
Bottom line, as far as I have experienced it, all techniques need work to get 'in time' - it's tough. I feel the rot after a single day off the instrument ATM.
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Jimmy Bruno is an economy picker methinks. I may be mistaken though.
Michael Batio has what I think is the best approach to picking and that is to use all the styles whenever appropriate and not restrict yourself to one style.
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No I do find it odd when people recommend shred players technique for jazz just because I think of the problems that jazz and shred guitar have to solve as being really very different. Originally Posted by Drumbler
So, I do think the style matters, because the aesthetics differ. Technique, tone and aesthetic are all influencing each other. That's why Lage Lund hammers his fingers down on the strings to get a certain sound when picking and so on....
I also feel that people think that the thing that would make better jazz guitar would be more notes. I really have to say, after years of listening to a generation of student jazz guitarists play endless strings of them (including myself) at jam sessions, I do not believe this to be true...
Also technique is a more holistic thing for a jazz player - can you play intervallic leaps accurately, play evenly with good tone, play chords accurately and fast, stay in the pocket and swing on every phrase, be consistent and so on? Generally jazzers produce more sound from the instrument too, even modern guys, as they play hollowbodies.
Batio has a supremely flexible speed picking technique that is a thing of wonder... but.... has anyone else actually learned it? Or do you have to be a single minded olympic athlete of the guitar? I know Grady has put up some videos.... Be interested to know... OBviously there is something to learn there, but I feel for every student I have come across, including myself, there's usually more pressing issues like - learn some fucking tunes so I can dep you some gigs, you plonker.
Shred tone is usually pretty bright and nasty once you lose the drive... It needs to be for that music. Don't know if that's intrinsic to the technique. TBH I don't really care enough to find out.
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Batio actually has a jazz background. His initial guitar instruction as a kid was in jazz guitar and he can swing.
But I'm just using his philosophy of using whatever picking style is appropriate at the time and not restricting oneself like for example, Frank Gambale does.
I agree 100% with your comment about not concerning yourself with picking style and spend your time learning tunes.
Who has time to practice picking?
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Fair to partly cloudy , lol. Originally Posted by christianm77
1)Pick Grip and support
2) Percentage of Alternating Motion
3) Method of string crossing .
EVERYONE who picks at medium to high tempos ( or subdivisions ) uses alternate picking at a high %.
Mike Moreno -1) grip Thumb and M finger (like Eddie Van Halen )
2) % of Alternate Motion - 75% to 90+%
3) String Cross - economy AKA Directional picking
Adam Rodgers -
1) Grip - knife picking AKA Benson Picking
2) %Alternate Motion - 85 to 95%
3) String Cross - economy AKA directional -
Benson-
1)Grip- knife picking
2)% Alternate Motion 90-95+%
3) String Cross- skip and some directional- ask Peter Farrel exactly when etc.
Joshco Stephan -
1) Grip - thumb with curved index underneath = more power
2) % Alternate Picking - 90%+
3) String Cross - some skip - some directional (not sure why when )
Sweep should be understood as directional across more than one string - simple.
Directional or Economy are both workarounds for people who can't or don't want to skip strings- that's all- a supplement to alt picking.
Take away the even Alt Picking ( and ability to accent )
And none of these Players could play well at all.
You would not know their names.
You would not know their names if they could not evenly alternate pick.Last edited by Robertkoa; 12-22-2018 at 09:18 AM.
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Fair dos! Originally Posted by Drumbler
Dunno, I suspect Gambale just found that the simplest solution for him. Maybe the way he naturally held the pick made it an obvious approach on a physical level and unlike most guitar dweebs of his generation who would probably beat themselves up for not alt picking like Al Di Meola, he made it into a THING.But I'm just using his philosophy of using whatever picking style is appropriate at the time and not restricting oneself like for example, Frank Gambale does.
Of course economy/sweep picking probably is the easiest way to pick - to the point where alternate picking practice at the early stages is largely concerned making sure you are not economy picking without realising it! The problem with it is doing it in time.
Or the picking practice can always be concerned with the practical challenges in the music... But even in bop heads - kind of misses the point to play every note crystal clear. Reminds me - someone once said to guitarists compared to sax players don't tend to play many ghost notes, and I think it's a good point.... Big exceptions..... Wes, Sco...I agree 100% with your comment about not concerning yourself with picking style and spend your time learning tunes.
Who has time to practice picking?
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Who has time to learn scales?
If you are going to learn scales - are you going to play them evenly or just off time any old way.
I think it depends on your Goals - to just have fun playing ( a good goal - perhaps most healthy)- just Play ..don"t worry about it...
If you have a strong desire to play extremely well...be a recording artist, break some new ground or are studying Music....or are asking how to play like guy X . ...that's different.
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2) is a really dodgy metric. How are you measuring that? Originally Posted by Robertkoa
3) is what it's really about. Real alternate pickers use alternate picking string crossing almost exclusively. That's the hard bit. Playing up and down on one string is relatively trivial if you get a good motion going in the right hand.
But there's so much more to it... man, it's just a really limited way to look at it. I would not teach Joscho Stephan's technique as a % of alternate picking. I would teach it from a starting point of how you hold the pick and make a downstroke. It's just.... arggggh.
Are you trying to troll me? Seriously? Haha.
He says downstrokes mostly unless he's at speed in which case he uses economy. It is possible he doesn't really know what he's doing, but I haven't really thought to check on him.Mike Moreno -1) grip Thumb and M finger (like Eddie Van Halen )
2) % of Alternate Motion - 75% to 90+%
3) String Cross - economy AKA Directional picking
But with Moreno, a lot of the work is actually coming from the left hand. About a third to a half of his notes are slurred.
Possibly correct. I think Rogers picks most if not all of his notes.Adam Rodgers -
1) Grip - knife picking AKA Benson Picking
2) %Alternate Motion - 85 to 95%
3) String Cross - economy AKA directional -
Benson seems to observe the same rules as Gypsy players which is very simple - start each new string with a downstroke.Benson-
1)Grip- knife picking
2)% Alternate Motion 90-95+%
3) String Cross- skip and some directional- ask Peter Farrell exactly when etc.
Consecutive downstrokes can be raked or swept, so ascending motion becomes directional. This is certainly how Farrell plays - see the transcription on the other thread...
JS is a very classical, traditional Gypsy Picker. And observes the rules above.Joshco Stephan -
1) Grip - thumb with curved index underneath = more power
2) % Alternate Picking - 90%+
3) String Cross - some skip - some directional (not sure why when )
He maybe able to sneak in more upstrokes at fast tempos, but true alt picking is very hard with that pick angle. Try it.
Of the techniques this is the one I am most personally familiar with and was pretty decent at it.
-----Sweep should be understood as directional across more than one string - simple.
Directional or Economy are both workarounds for people who can't or don't want to skip strings- that's all- a supplement to alt picking.
Take away the even Alt Picking ( and ability to accent )
And none of these Players could play well at all.
You would not know their names.
You would not know their names if they could not evenly alternate pick.
Anyway aside from the nerdy details... I'm not sure what argument you thought I was making. That everyone has to master everything? Fuck that lol.
Not everything will work for everyone, but its good to give it a go and see what works out, not be too harsh on yourself if one or the other isn't working out if there's a solution that feels and sounds good that you can use.
I try to look at how a student is playing already, and make my suggestions based on what looks reasonably natural for them rather than putting them through the ins and outs of learning a totally new approach.
Usually things like how you hold a pick naturally, the way you are physically, how you hold the instrument will move you one way or another.
Stephan of course learned GJ picking from a young age, taught, like classical technique. GB self taught? Adam Rogers is AFAIK self taught in this regard, had a teacher who knew well enough not to fix something that wasn't broken.
Moreno too I suspect. A dogmatic teacher would have told him how to hold a pick 'right' and he would play with a different technique - probably worse lol. There is no 'school' of Moreno picking, probably not Benson picking before GB came up either.
Anyway, we all go one way or the other.Last edited by christianm77; 12-22-2018 at 10:10 AM.
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You missed the point BECAUSE of the nerdy details.
You should look for SIMILARITIES not the differences.
You would see and integrate instead of separate styles that don't work well.
The even Alternate Motion is what must be used and is the common denominator for medium to high tempos for everyone .
Maybe that's too strong a statement-
Some type of even Alternate Motion must be used for everyone on Earth to play Guitar at medium to high tempos.
Once you get that down ( for your grip and support ) the other parts will fall into line.
If you don't get that down ( regardless of fingers, pick , pick grip , etc etc ) - it will be a long ride often as the OP laments after going down a 4 year dead end - right ?
Skipping strings isn't that hard either....
I don't know those Player' History don't care - they pick well - because they use mostly alt picking ....knowing who taught them or their History will not help you achieve better mechanics...
Use what works for you
and simplify ...
After you read this Post walk briskly to your car - then on the way back take 2 steps then hop then one step then hop ....
Which was easier ?Last edited by Robertkoa; 12-22-2018 at 12:56 PM.
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I'm not suggesting you tremolo pick with downstrokes haha Originally Posted by Robertkoa
Ha! You are trolling me lol. Now that's a HELL of a statement.Once you get that down ( for your grip and support ) the other parts will fall into line.
If you don't get that down ( regardless of fingers, pick , pick grip , etc etc ) - it will be a long ride often as the OP laments after going down a 4 year dead end - right ?
Skipping strings isn't that hard either....
Or - you don't really understand what you are doing from a teaching/technical standpoint and you don't really understand the problems people run into and how people overcome those obstacles. Possibly because you have naturally come up with a solution that you didn't really think about and never have since.
So it makes me very very curious to see what you do with the right hand, because if what you say is the case, you have some chops, and it's always interesting to see what a player does.
Why do I say this? Well you may not know this, but string crossing and skipping is a BIG issue for many alternate pickers. In fact - it's the main element of difficulty. Actually, I came up with my own solution without understanding it - I could alternate pick arpeggios etc pretty fast - but it is such a common stumbling block.
Especially so called outside picking, for instance downstroke on string 2 followed by upstroke on string 1, or up on string 1 followed by down on string 2.
(not really quite an issue for pickslanters, interestingly - try it yourself, once with the pick perpendicular to the guitar, once with the pick inclined at an angle.)
I reckon you are a dwps (Gypsy/Benson style) or economy (Gambale/Moreno/Pasquale) based picker who taught themselves and thinks they alternate pick. I'd be interested to see which.
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But the wider point here is and I hope Robert will agree with me (I believe Robert's statements about his picking speed etc cos, why not?):
Sometimes focussing on the minutiae actually makes a thing harder. My experience is that players with very broken pick techniques have often been taught in an overly dogmatic or technical way. People with great chops sometimes don't seem to pay their right hand to much mind and have received perplexingly little by way of instruction in the area. Teaching can actually be a bad thing!
(And there are schools of picking that are genuinely effective, like Benson and GJ picking.)
Hear the music strongly enough and your body may well find a way to make it happen. Sounds like hippy crap, but there's a reason why transcription is such a powerful learning tool.
Anyway, the takeaway is - if it ain't broke don't fix it.
But - if it is broke, your teacher needs to be a technique doctor to fix it.
After all, if you want a diagnosis, you hope your doctor will pay attention to the nerdy details, right?
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Yes .I would agree...no minutae on my picking or pick and fingers picking.
That and Time are my strengths..
So if I lock to a groove - it will be tighter than most -
Not baiting you ...I was thinking about the OP and so many confused people...
You seem relatively happy with how you play etc and have vast knowledge .
You reduced your pick lag on a whim also
I will not be as Polished with perfect lines for a whole Set ( !) like the top Guys but my grooves will be stronger in some ways.
And picking is rhythmic - trying to rely less on speed but I have stupid locked speed.
I am old but only have had these chops about two years .
Minutae - yes things should not be super critical- I agree - reckless precision - like Benson ...or SRV had...
Pay attention to pick grip - consistency is key.
You should look at Top Rest Andreas Varady- he flattened down GJ Picking for electric - Christian
And Bireli flattened out GJ Picking for Electric too.
Coincidentally mine looks a lot like Varady wrist light support and then edge of thumb base for Neo Classical Rhythmic Pick and Fingers stuff -
I was already doing it long ago but also IF I float my right hand it is similar to GJ except I alternate across strings in triplets septuplets - I am a Rhythmatist - lol.
Jazzers will respect my Rhythms - I don't have that amazing Solo Guitar thing like Marino and Kriesberg- not a chops thing- more of a -I am not a Musical Genius thing lol.
Minutae - usually means problem or stabilization needed-
I have small hands and short pinky...
For 40 years I had my fret hand thumb up like a flagpole like I was Clapton and THAT caused minutae problems not with chords or fingerpicking but the fluidness and speed was not consistent I had the alt picking in the 80s - had to change FRET hand about 5 years ago to use it fully.
So totally agree-
Some young kids are already good ..
Like Matteo Mancuso- he picks better than I do using brilliantly bastardized Classical Technique with fingers I and M on electric!
I would even mention anything to him - except play more...( in the Studio I mean ).
I would give him some cool Rhythm Tracks and chords - see if he had better ones and hit record and say - go ahead - make me jealous..lol .
Once you really have things down - minute
details should not throw you off- that's why pure floating is bad
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I do think there's an awful lot to said for people practicing just the right or left hand with absolute consistently and with focus. Doesn't mean playing loads of exercises, just being extremely mindful and exacting, and careful about how you work on the picking for a given phrase or whatever. Originally Posted by Robertkoa
Even if I give very specific feedback on how a player should practice to improve their technique there's no guarantee they will be able to practice it on their own. My job is at least in part to show them in the lesson what that practice looks like.
And I realise I am an absolute taskmaster lol.
Also, I think there's a lot intuition in your body. If a movement feels natural and easy - probably is....
In terms of my electric technique, as loud gigs with drums, elec. bass etc, have no idea - it's something I am working on.
The thing about electric playing, is that you can only really work out the defects of the approach in the gig. I am currently working out how much muting I need to do, now that I am using the 'knife picking' as you call it (like that term) whether to use that on electric too etc.
I did do the flattened GJ thing for a bit. I really hate the way it makes me move my wrist.
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Jen's vid might be of interest. Legato/picking mix is important.
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I hope the OP will watch this. It's a bit... wordy, but I think it'll help him realize that he didn't waste 4 years of his life on a useless technique. Originally Posted by christianm77
BTW, I somehow discovered Economy Picking in the 60's. I only found out it's called that after joining this forum. I use it for the phrasing. And for things I can't play any other way. I'm probably mostly alternating, with some legato. It's all good.
And that's something else I learned here: the use of the term Legato to describe guitar technique. I only knew it from my early days behind the cello. Like...how you handle the bow.
I can't believe how much info is out there now about how to pluck the guitar!! In my part of the world when I was starting there really wasn't any way to know how the big boys did it. I could see from the picture on the album cover that Wes seemed to use his thumb, but I couldn't understand how he could play what he did that way. How to hold a pick, how to use it? Just had to try and figure out something that worked. I learned a lot from Django records, but how could I have ever known there was a whole thing called Gypsy Picking? It wasn't even called Gypsy Jazz back then.
Now we have that guy on youtube with the iPhone attached to different guys guitars. Plus slow motion!
(I kinda feel like the centanerian lady I saw on Johnny Carson once. When he asked her what was the most amazing new invention in her lifetime she answered "The electric light bulb")
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I am self taught- I can alt pick smooth and light so you can't tell it's alt picking more legato or a Bensonish more staccato feel - Originally Posted by christianm77
I can also cascade 3 string cross patterns - they interlock ...I noticed that except for the sweeps Andreas Varady's right hand looks quite a lot like mine...
I can do the alt across strings thing so that's different and sounds faster .
I use two different grips...my most powerful one looks a lot like Joshco Stephan IF I float but floating is bad for electric...
Yes it worked great for DiMeola- BUT better on acoustic - when you beat up an Acoustic or Nylon it sounds good BUT on electric you want soft smooth legato and ghost notes.
I developed the legato feathering alt picking in the 80s because I suck at tapping lol- I was never a Rocker anyway - I was a very good acoustic and fingerstylist..and very tight rhythm player steely dan influenced but could not really use the picking I developed in the 80s until recently when I took my the thumb behind the neck small hands short pinky .
I actually just floated my thumb behind the neck lol then I could cover 5 frets and start playing what I hear ...but the cross patterns mean I don't sound like the CST guys as much.
When I realized I could do some damage I thought I better learn my tons of missed theory ...
Yes I have serious chops- I sound like I have been woodshedding a long long time .
When I listen to Benson or Moreno or Kriesberg- it's not like when DiMeola forst came out and I was like - WTF ?
That was 45 years ago ...
The last WTF I had was Kriesberg playing Solo Guitar with pick and fingers and he had two completely independent lines at once - which I can do but not the two he was doing ..
So my natural time when I swing is as I said in between Norman Brown and GB I am closer not than Farrel but most others and can shred with a lot of that feel .
But yeah - I can really play now- 'play better
Guitar in only 48 years.'.. $12.85 lol .
Getting the chops late in life is unusual- but it's because I just floated my fret hand thumb behind the neck about 5 years ago and it worked including the next day and few months- I kept thinking I was going to lose it somehow but it stayed ...that's only for soloing - for chords I am normal and even starting to rest my thumb on back of neck on Solos ..but it needs to equal floating for my fret hand to follow my picking hand .
You need efficient fingering for Base II Alt Picking.
So I am mixing vertical in and exploring rhythms , and voicings and using independent pick and fingers for harmonic rhythms - self generated harmonic rhythms .
In the 80s I used what I called alternate up picking - now I do understand picking extremely well - which is how I developed it .
Now - Alternate Up picking is similar to what Eric Johnson described - he did it for tone ...
I did it before he became famous to get equal upstrokes and downstrokes.
What happens is the upstrokes are even or accented at will and sound just like upstrokes .
Troy Grady- no Internet when I developed my initial Alt Chops superficially calls this DWPS but I don't think he really knows why I watched a few of his vids but they are tedious for me and I already did this- partly from hearing Benson way back when - always loved Benson..
So IF you hold your left arm out as The String AND you wiggle your hand as the pick and slap that bitch - you will notice that up picking hits the lower and front quadrant of the string rather than merely brushes across the top .
BAM - BIG BOLD don't fuck with me upstrokes , real even or accented - NOT Chunking or that crazy metalhead stuff Grady talks about , though I think some of the hard rockers like Van Halen were significant....I think EVH and Steve Lukather could do a great Fusion album together.
So that is why i developed that.
Now during the last few years - I have refined that a bit- so there is less upward motion required.
I actually do remember playing some wicked picking in the 80s ( I was coming from Steely Dan-ish tone ) but it was rough on my left hand with thumb up next day.
Stretching for 6 fret chords - no prob- but stretching for fluid lines with thumb up was painful next morning.
So my thumb is floating or lightly against back of neck.
Internet people underestimate how much alternate picking someone like Benson or even Marino do...
When I read the OP thing - I misunderstood the Title .- lol
I thought he went down a rabbit hole for 4 years- but he's one of those guys that can economy , alt pick, whatever he wants ..
I can change grips and still alt pick well but not the rhythmic clean shred speeds or the verical stuff...when I record again ..I have to put together a Midi Rig...my last Project was in 2000 with an ex Atlantic Records Singer from a little known group called Rumorz I did not do any Music on that CD.
I did Jingles ( music for Radio TV commercials ) a bit when young - so not sensitive about Music I write or Play- the listener is right for what they hear.
When I start recording you guts can post some well known pickers and I don't do the Jack Thammarratt or is it Ttthhhaaammmaarattt- note for note thing...
Christian- you were able to reduce your lag on a whim - which is cool - but I think you should look at Andreas Varady and see how he flattened out GJ Picking - and he lightly rests his wrist and sometimes a little base of thumb on guitar face - GJ Mechanics - not too dissimilar to mine - he has a GB type feel except he sweeps instead of Alt Arps like me and doesn't go quite as extreme - but he is really good and fun to hear.
Birelli- also flattens out his GJ Picking but rests on bottom I think lightly just as a depth gauge ...
You may be able to flatten out your GJ picking - just like young gifted Andreas did - I recommend his rest wrist because you can still float really low OR add fingerpicking to the pick easier.
good time for a young Player- see the support ...at wrist and mostly alt picking .
This is just some lesson thing but you see his hand and the light support near base of wrist..
He's not using the same grip as they taught him in the secret GJ Cave in Bucharest Romania lol- but it is a good hybrid..
He's tip toeing a little on the Economy moves ( glad I don't use it).
But he can play much better than this.
All the experts will say it' s not possible to alternate across the strings that fast or that smoothly - he must be doing something else -' he' will be me .
Also when they hear cool voicings with self harmonic Rhythm - [is it an apoggiatura ...or did Schoënberg refer to it as Keith Richardization of a Harmonic Figure ] - That's kind of what I do.
Listen to this- best soloist I ever heard on any Instrument.
Yeah- I get the difficulty with Alt Picking- but that's cause you have to be able to do it right. You can not do rest strokes and bury your pick in the bloody weeds of East Grinstead lol..like a golfer with a bad lie .
When I have product to sell - You can play any type of tapping- sweeping- shredding - and I should be able to achieve 80% to 120% of it - not note for note but similar content speed , rhythm ...those techniques came into being because of inability to alt pick- thinking I might fall on my face on a few of the two handed tappers trying to feather pick ( legato picking every note soft but fast)
I once posted a live George Benson live thing where he was playing as fast as Malmsteen but like Benson- can't remember the thread - You could not see George but he was in full 6th Gear..Last edited by Robertkoa; 12-22-2018 at 11:27 PM.
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It remains one of our biggest challenges, so in a way, not enough can be said about it. Yet in another way, the options can be narrowed down according to what it is you wish to play.
My single line stuff is based on devices I steal from horn and sometimes piano players, so I hear ideas in my head and try to find the best way to produce those lines on the guitar. I started out many moons ago being a strictly alternate speed shredder up until I realised that was a bore. Took me a very long time (much longer than 4 years!) to change that tendency, and really what did it was having to totally re think my right hand in order to deal with the non guitaristic lines I wanted to play.
First I decide on the best way for the left hand to negotiate an idea, then I go through all my options with the right hand. I "road test" all my lines at double tempo to make sure the picking will be solid, then slow it back down and use the same motions at the agonisingly s-l-o-w tempos until my time feel is good using this sometimes non intuitive way of picking. By this I mean that if I started to learn the line at a slow tempo I might alternate, which would be easy. But the alt picking would break down at fast tempo because of many string skips in my lines. Alt picking is great for time if the string jumps are always close, but articulation will get shitty when not.
So it surely gets down to what you wanna play. I reckon if you commit to a set picking style it will dictate what you play. This is death!
Much more interesting (and also much harder) to let the freely conceived line dictate what you play, and then how you play it. Because when you think about it, that is the reason why horn and piano players play better lines than us (and please, let's not argue about this....).
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Thomastik Jazz BeBop 12 set - $10.
Today, 06:35 AM in For Sale